


Nightmare

by PrevalentPolyglot



Series: Little Peter [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Daddy Tony Stark, Gen, Little Peter, NOT STARKER - Freeform, Non-Sexual Age Play, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, caregiver tony stark, little peter parker, little!peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26123494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrevalentPolyglot/pseuds/PrevalentPolyglot
Summary: Peter wakes up from a nightmare and wants his daddy.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Little Peter [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864099
Comments: 6
Kudos: 177





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Am I finishing this up instead of doing homework I was just given for the semester that just started? Yes. Sorry for the wait! This one would not write itself.

Peter gasped as he jolted awake. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of where he was.

“Peter, are you alright?” a lightly accented voice asked. “You seem to be distressed.”

Peter looked around wildly. The room was dark. He stuck out his arms and felt them hit bars. He moved his hands around and continued to find bars surrounding him. He opened his mouth and started to wail.

“Peter, I’m required to notify Boss when you cry.”

Peter continued to cry. He had just awoken from a terrible nightmare and only wanted his daddy. His door flew open a minute later and Tony barged in, eyes focused solely on his baby boy, who was sitting up with his arms outstretched in his crib clutching on the bars. Thank heavens he didn’t know how to use his super strength when he was little.

“Hey, baby,” Tony said, leaning over the top of the crib to grab Peter and pick him up. Peter threw his head into Tony’s chest and wrapped his arms around the older man’s body, holding on for dear life. “Oh, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” He started slowly bouncing Peter on his hip and ran his hand through the boy’s curls, who continued to sob.

“I believe he had a nightmare, Boss.” FRIDAY took the opportunity to chime in.

“Did he say anything before he woke up?” Tony asked, using the hand that wasn’t rubbing Peter’s head to rub his back. He left the room and started making his way to the kitchen to make some warm milk in hopes of calming his boy down.

“I was unable to decipher any words,” she responded. Tony sighed. How unhelpful. He made it to the kitchen and was immediately faced with a dilemma: he needed a hand to make the warm milk, but both of his hands were occupied calming Peter down.

“Petey, I’m going to make you some warm milk, okay?” Tony asked, slowly retracting the hand that was rubbing his head. Peter’s sobs had quieted, though his body still trembled. Tony quickly set about pouring some milk into a small saucepan to heat up. It took a few minutes, but soon enough it was steaming lightly and ready for Peter’s consumption. The billionaire sidled over to the cupboard containing the boy’s sippy cups and snagged one. “Ready, Pete?” he asked, gently bouncing his kid on his hip. Once he poured the milk into the cup and tightened the top, he walked them into the living room and sat on the couch.

“Daddy,” Peter sniffled, looking at the cup. “Wan’ milk.”

Tony allowed a slightly smile to cross his features. “Okay, bubba. Here you go.” He gave the cup to Peter and watched as he lifted it to his mouth and suckled eagerly on it. “Not too fast, okay?” Tony said, gently placing a finger on the cup to prevent Peter from tilting it all the way back.

The Little glared at him as he tried to raise the cup further, but to no avail. “Daddy! More!”

Tony frowned at him. “We gotta be polite, sweetheart. Don’t be demanding.”

Peter’s lower lip started to tremble as his eyes started to well back up with tears. “Daddy!”

Tony sighed. He glanced at the clock to see that it was just before 3:00 in the morning. Four months ago, that wouldn’t have been a problem. He would repeatedly pull all-nighters for several consecutive nights. Now, of course, he was a Caregiver taking care of a Little. He had gotten his sleep schedule in check so that he could be available for Peter whenever he was needed, and being awake at 3:00 in the morning only happened when his kid had a nightmare. He decided to take the easy way out and hoped Peter wouldn’t remember, and promptly allowed him to reclaim his cup.

It took a few minutes for the Little to drain the cup of milk, especially since his initial sips had started to put him back to sleep. Tony gently took the sippy cup out of Peter’s hands and started walking back toward his bedroom, leaving the cup on the kitchen counter on the way. As they stepped back into Peter’s room, the boy started to whimper.

“No, Daddy! No cwib. I wanna seep wif you!”

Tony halted in his tracks, tilting his head down to look at Peter. Peter’s head was up looking at him, big brown eyes wide and tearful with his arms and legs tightening their grip around Tony’s upper body. This was the usual game after Peter had a nightmare. The first time it had happened, Tony had put Peter back in his crib and neither of them had gotten any sleep that night. Peter spent it crying and begging for his daddy, and Tony had laid awake listening and hoping he was doing the right thing. They spent the entirety of the following day and night cuddling on Tony’s bed.

After that night, Tony would make an attempt to put Peter back in his crib, but would cave upon the slightest resistance from the Little and the two would sleep in Tony’s bed for the remainder of the night. He knew that eventually he would have to be more strict.

“Okay, bubba,” he said, stepping back out and heading for his room. “But tonight’s the last night, okay?”

Peter only burrowed his head back into Tony’s chest.

Tony crossed the threshold to his room and laid Peter down in the middle of his bed.

“Daddy!” Peter complained, stretching his arms out.

“Hang on just a second, Petey,” Tony said as he dug around in his bureau. He grabbed a pacifier from the top drawer and returned to the bed. “Here you go, bubba.” He plopped the paci in Peter’s mouth and he quickly began to suck on it. Tony laid down next to him and pulled the covers over. “Goodnight, Petey,” he said as he slipped a protective arm across Peter’s chest.

“G’night daddy,” Peter whispered.

* * *

Tony’s eyes fluttered open a few hours later. He turned his head to the side and saw Peter staring at him, fidgeting uncomfortably. “Need a diaper change, sweetheart?” he asked, propping himself up before finishing the question.

“Tony.”

The inventor froze for a second at the word. “Feeling big, kid?” Every now and then, Peter would return to his older headspace, but it was very rare. Various media outlets had commented on the sudden absence of Spider-Man, but

Peter nodded wordlessly. He gestured across the room to indicate the diaper in the trashcan. “I woke up about 45 minutes ago,” he said, continuing to fidget.

Tony nodded. “Okay. Do you want breakfast or anything? We could work in the lab for a bit today, if you wanted.”

Peter didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked down at his lap.

“What’s wrong, Peter?” Tony asked, staring worriedly at him. “You can tell me anything. You know that, right?” Upon receiving no response, he decided to reach out and grasp one of Peter’s hands. “C’mon, bud, whatever it is will be okay. Tell me what’s up.”

“I’m sorry for being a burden,” Peter finally said, keeping his eyes firmly trained on his lap.

Tony shook his head, completely befuddled. “What?”

“I’m sorry for being a burden. You’re finally sleeping through the night and I sob like a baby because I had a bad dream. I’m here sleeping in your bed and taking up space, and —”

“Peter,” Tony said, cutting the teen off mid-speech. “You are _not_ a burden.”

Peter finally raised his head to look at Tony. “But I am! I —”

“No,” Tony said firmly, raising a hand to stop him again. “I do all of this because I want to. Because I love you. I love having you here and being here for you. You are the furthest thing possible from a burden.” He paused for a moment, staring intently at Peter’s face.

“Really?” Peter asked, sounding more vulnerable than when he was in his Little headspace.

“Really,” Tony confirmed. He reached out with his other arm and dragged the teen forward, smushing him against his chest into a tight hug. “You’re not a burden, not an inconvenience. You are the light of my life. I love you, Peter.”

“I love you too, Tony,” Peter replied. The words were slightly muffled because his head was pressed into Tony’s chest, but Tony could still hear the slight sob that accompanied the statement.

They stayed like that for a good thirty minutes (though about seven minutes in Tony had to lean back against a pillow to ease the stress on his back) before Peter started to stir. “Can we have breakfast now, Tony?” he asked, no longer able to ignore his stomach’s rumbling.

“Sure, Pete,” he agreed. “What do you want?”

Peter pulled back slightly and smiled bashfully, opened his eyes wide, and stared at Tony. “Everything?”

Tony barked out a quick laugh before nodding. “Anything for my favorite spider-baby.”

“Spider-Man, Tony. Spider- _Man_.”

“Whatever you say, kid.”

The boys hopped out of bed and made their way to the kitchen, where Tony made good on his promise and whipped up eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. Peter proceeded to devour all of it, except for the plate that Tony had squirreled away for himself.

After they showered and got dressed, they spend nearly the entirety of the rest of the day in the lab making upgrades to both Tony and Peter’s suits, save for the lunch break they took. Around 5:30, Tony noticed that Peter’s movements were becoming slower and slower. “Hey, bud,” he said, setting down his tools. “Wanna get ready for dinner? We can watch a movie afterwards.”

“Okay, daddy.” Peter nodded in agreement and slumped down in his seat. Tony smiled and swept toward him. After a long day of work, it was unsurprising that Peter had started to slip back into his Little headspace.

“Let’s go, bubba.” Tony picked his baby boy up and walked into the elevator. “Fri, take us up.”

“Right away, Boss,” she responded. The elevator smoothly ascended, taking only about half a minute to reach the penthouse floor. The doors dinged open and Tony stepped out, turning away from the kitchen and going instead to Peter’s bedroom.

“Let’s get you all gussied up, baby,” Tony whispered, pressing a kiss onto Peter’s head of curls.

“Old word, daddy!” Peter cheered, albeit somewhat sleepily.

Tony chose not to respond. He quickly took Peter’s clothes off of him and expertly swaddled him in a diaper. Upon reaching for a onesie, however, there was a small tantrum. Peter was often of the opinion that clothes were gross. While he might put up with the presence of a diaper, clothing was a frequent struggle. Every now and then Tony would look up from paperwork that Pepper forced him to review and have to chase down a giggling, naked-except-for-a-diaper Little. It was one of Peter’s favorite pastimes. Suffice to say that Tony did not agree (read: he most certainly did — he loved every second of it). Tony decided to allow Peter to go mostly naked for the night.

“Ready for din-din, Petey?” the inventor asked, blowing a raspberry on Peter’s belly.

Peter let out a delighted giggle-shriek. “Din-din!” he cheered.

Dinner was quick. Tony made some pasta and was glad he didn’t force Peter into a onesie on account of the sheer amount of sauce that managed to end up on his body instead of in his mouth.

After a bath, they settled on the couch in the living room to watch Little Einsteins. Peter clapped and sang along to the theme song while Tony tried to pay as little attention as possible. It wasn’t that Little Einsteins was a bad show — after all, who doesn’t love music? — but it could get a little grating after a while. Plus, Peter couldn’t really sing. After two episodes and several songs, Tony decided that he was done with that for the night and started to shift into a “getting up” position. Peter’s head spun around to stare at him.

“Daddy, where are you goin’?” he asked, blinking owlishly at Tony.

“I think it’s just about time for bed, sweetheart,” he responded, reaching out to pick Peter up.

“No!” Peter yelled, trying to evade his daddy’s outstretched arms. “No seep!”

“It’s bedtime for little spider-babies, Petey,” Tony said, successfully scooping Peter up and putting him against his hip. He made his way to Peter’s bedroom despite Peter’s repeated complaints. “But guess what we’re going to do first?”

Peter froze. “Game?”

“Sort of,” Tony teased, laying Peter down in the soft play area that took up a good portion of Peter’s room. “We’re going to have a visit from… the Tickle Monster!”

Tony fake-roared and started tickling Peter’s stomach, who screeched in delight in response and started to try to wiggle away. “No, Daddy! No tickles!”

Tony pulled back, smirking at his boy. “No tickles?”

Peter stopped squirming and looked at his daddy. “Some tickles?”

“Okay,” Tony said, smiling, and immediately began to tickle Peter again, throwing in a raspberry on his belly every so often as well. Peter squealed in delight every time it happened. Soon enough, however, it was time for bed. Tony picked Peter up and they went into the bathroom for the nightly tooth-brushing, face-washing, toilet-using routine. “Wanna wear your special onesie tonight, bubba?”

Peter gasped. “I be spidah?!”

“Yes you can!” Tony answered, going over to the closet to pull out Peter’s spider. Tony had had it custom made so that it had the extra arms and was super fuzzy. Without any complaints (because the spider onesie was for special occasions, like the night after a nightmare, and Peter absolutely adored it), the boy slipped into it and happily clapped his spider arms together, smiling brightly the entire time. Tony collected Peter into his arms and brought him over to his crib. “Ready for sleep, sweetheart?”

Peter nodded sleepily. His hand was starting to migrate toward his mouth and Tony was once again glad that the onesie covered Peter’s hands so that he couldn’t suck his thumb. As cute as it was, it was also gross. Tony laid him down in the crib and tucked him in under his favorite blanket.

“Goodnight, Petey,” Tony whispered, brushing a rogue curl away from Peter’s face. “I love you.”

Peter was hummed happily as he drifted off to dreamland. Tony stayed and watched him sleep for a few minutes, a soft smile on his face as he looked at his boy. “Keep an eye on him, FRIDAY. Let me know if he needs anything.”

“I will, Boss. You should go to sleep as well,” she responded.

Tony nodded. “I know. I’m just gonna watch him sleep for a little longer.”

“Of course, Boss.”

**Author's Note:**

> Good thing Tony's there for Peter, right? Please let me know what you think! Comments and kudos provide happiness in these bleak times.


End file.
